Work Together!
by brokenheart-edge
Summary: What do you get when you take Allen and Kanda and pair them up to play tennis? Nothing but trouble, rest assured. Throw in awkward feelings, scheming friends, a couple bullies, and a little heat stroke, and what have you got? Hopefully, a love story. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Hi there! Edge-chan is back from the dead, and she comes bearing your daily recommended allowance of Yullen! I'm sorry I disappeared for so long, but I was really sick there for awhile… never underestimate mono. My tonsils were the size of golf balls, I kid you not. They had to give me I.V. fluids and steroids at the doctor and… ugh. Never mind. Now, I know I'm supposed to be writing more of Where the Current Leads, but this idea refused to stay in my head. It just came zooming up and hit me, WHAM! Right in between the eyes, screaming, "WRITE ME, WRITE ME RIGHT NOW!" Since I love high school AU fanfictions, I decided to try one myself- just a short one, before I get back to my other story. The rating on this will go up to M for the last chapter, by the way. Anyways, enjoy!

Warnings: AU, of course. Swearing and a lemon… if you're good. ; ) Oh, and tennis violence. You'll see.

I do not own D.Gray-Man. You know what I'd do if I did. (How about a little Yullen action, Hoshino-san?)

_Work Together!_

"FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!"

Mr. Li blew the tiny metal whistle around his neck with every ounce of air he could muster. The shrill, head splitting sound it produced caused every student in the gymnasium to grimace and cover their ears protectively.

"Komui! Are you _trying_ to make us go deaf?!" Yu Kanda bellowed, glaring daggers at the teacher who normally taught the Science classes. "Where's Ms. Cloudnyne?" the class nodded, murmuring its collective assent, looking at Komui expectantly. The man straightened his glasses, which had slid down his nose at the force with which he'd blown his whistle, sighing.

"I only blew it so loud because you all were chattering so much. Ms. Cloudnyne is not here today, as you can see. She, uh… well, she has some important business to attend to today."

Lavi leaned surreptitiously over to Allen, whispering in his ear.

"I bet her pet monkey got sick."

Allen burst into giggles, trying unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter with one hand. Lenalee chuckled a little, too, but Kanda just snorted in annoyance, turning to instead listen to what Komui was saying.

"-And so, we're starting the tennis unit today, so everybody head outside to the courts."

Now over his laughter, Allen looked crestfallen.

"But, Komui, it's almost a hundred degrees outside! Can't we play in here?" Komui shook his head with a sympathetic expression. Kanda was less compassionate; he scoffed, beholding Allen with a derisive look.

"Aww, can the Beansprout not handle a little heat?" he mocked, and Allen clenched his fists, turning to the older boy, an indignant glare plastered on his normally sweet features.

"Shut up, Kanda. I doubt you want to go outside in this heat, either."

In truth, he didn't, but he wasn't about to give Allen the satisfaction of knowing he was right. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders with a bored look.

"I don't care. I'm not weak like you." Allen's lip curled at that, baring a sliver of white teeth in a gesture that said quite plainly, "I hate your guts." Kanda ignored him, though, turning on his heel to follow the students who were already heading to the tennis courts. Allen pouted, following grudgingly.

Lenalee padded up beside her brother, smiling. Behind them a ways, Allen and Kanda's bickering could be clearly heard, and Komui shook his head with another sigh.

"What is it, nii-san?"

"Oh, those two will never stop arguing until the day they die…"

"Just like a married couple, aren't they?"

"Yes. What I don't understand is, even though they don't get along, they still seem close- like friends. I mean, you'd think they'd avoid each other, but it's like they're magnets- polar opposites that attract each other."

Nodding in agreement, his sister smiled that smile that told Komui she was in one of her 'scheming' moods. He had learned a long time ago to neither encourage nor discourage this, and just let it run its course, like a virus, but this time, he had a feeling that Lenalee was about to get him invoved. Sure enough, she looked up at him with entreating eyes.

"Nii-san, we're playing pairs tennis, right?"

"Well, yes, of course. There aren't enough courts for singles."

"Then, could you… pair up Allen and Kanda?" Lavi, who had been listening in, snickered. Komui scratched his head in thought, wondering what his sister was up to. Still, he couldn't deny her- it wasn't often that she asked anything of him, and even if it was, he would fulfill any wish his precious little sister had, if he could. What else could he do?

"Well, all right. I just hope Kanda doesn't dismember me for doing this." Komui acquiesced, and Lenalee brightened, clapping her hands together.

"Thank you, nii-san, you're the best!" Lenalee hugged her brother's arm, and Komui's chest swelled with pride. Lavi snickered again, muttering under his breath,

"Hook, line and sinker."

"WHAT?" Both Kanda and Allen spluttered at being paired up with the other. The heat was bad enough, Allen thought. Already his shorts were sticking to the insides of his thighs, and now this! Komui folded his arms across his chest, regarding the two boys with an air of seriousness.

"You heard me. You will play as a team, and with any luck, you'll learn to work together and not argue as much."

"Did you ever consider that I _like_ arguing with the Beansprout?" Komui, Lavi, and Allen all stared at Kanda in surprise. "What? It's fun to make fun of him."

"You…!" Allen almost lunged for Kanda, but Lavi quickly had him in an arm-lock. Even so, Allen struggled against the red-haired boy, snarling. "Lemme go! I'll break his nose!"

"You will, huh? I'd like to see you try, Beansprout."

"Allen, you can't! Yuu-chan's too pretty to be punched in the face! It'd be like hitting a girl!" Lavi cried in mock horror.

"What?! You wanna fucking die, you stupid rabbit?!"

"I most certainly do not."

"Then shut the fuck up!"

"Lavi, let me go!" Allen managed to finally shake Lavi off, threatening Kanda with both his fists held up in front of his face, ready to duke it out. Kanda snorted, raising his own fists.

"What, you really wanna fight? Got a death wish, kid?"

"Try it." Allen glared, and they made to start brawling, but Komui, whose presence had been forgotten until then, blew his whistle very hard. Both Allen and Kanda's hands flew to their ears.

"That's enough!" Komui placed his hands on his hips. "This is exactly what I'm talking about."

"Yeah. You two should really learn to get along." Lavi piped up, and Komui smacked him on the head.

"You, Lavi, do not get to say that. You made the fight worse by making Kanda angrier." Chastised, Lavi toed a pebble on the ground, falling silent. Komui turned his attention back to the other two boys, who were refusing to look at each other. Exasperated, Komui sighed before fetching a ball and two racquets for the boys. When he returned, he deposited the equipment on the ground in front of them.

"Look. At the very least, just learn to put up with each other long enough to play a decent game of tennis. If you do that, I'll let you have different partners tomorrow."

Scowling, Kanda bent down and snatched the ball and his racquet from the ground.

"Fine. Come on, Beansprout. Get your racquet and let's play."

Sighing, Allen picked up the remaining racquet and headed over to their designated court where their opponents, Tyki and Skinn, were waiting. Allen watched Kanda bounce the ball up and down a few times, before Kanda tossed him an impatient glare over his shoulder. Allen gulped and took the playing stance, feeling as if he'd signed his own death warrant.

Okay, there's the first chapter. I know what I'm going to write for the next one. I apologize in advance for you hardcore Allen fans out there- the next chapter will involve some more Allen bullying. I'm not going to beg for reviews, but I will ask nicely. Please let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, I'm back again! I apologize for the shortness of the first chapter… for some reason that always happens with my stories that are more than one chapter long. This one will be longer, I promise!

I do not own D.Gray-Man. Woe is me!

Warnings for this chapter: tennis violence and shirtless Kanda. Keep your tissues handy, because that guy is nosebleed-worthy.

Work Together!

Chapter 2

**SMACK!**

"Ow! Okay, now I _know_ you're doing that on purpose!" Allen shouted, pointing an accusing finger at his server, otherwise known as Kanda. For the third time, Kanda had spiked the ball off the back of his head while serving.

"Che. You should have realized _that_ the second time I did it." Kanda crossed his arms and glared scornfully at the seething boy.

"We're supposed to be working together to win!"

"Even if we _do_ work together, we're not gonna win. You know why? Cause you suck at this, that's why."

Allen could not respond to that; it was true. Most of the time, when he swung his racquet, he would miss the ball, and when he did hit it, he would either hit it into the net, or hit it way too hard, causing it to go out of bounds. Not that he wasn't trying, far from it- he was trying his very best, but maybe that was the problem. When he tried too hard, he found that he often failed.

Kanda, in stark contrast, seemed to excel at this without even trying, effortlessly keeping track of the ball at all times, hitting it out of the opponent's range, all the while keeping it in bounds. Allen, despite his distaste for Kanda's overall attitude, had to admire the older boy's athleticism. He made it look so easy, damn it- he wasn't even sweating that much yet. The same could not be said about himself- he was drenched in sweat. Hot weather always affected him quite adversely, but he knew that if he were to ask for a breather, Kanda would mock him even more.

To make matters worse, their opponents were Tyki and Skinn, two notorious senior bullies with a penchant for picking on underclassmen, in this case, Allen. Allen had grown suspicious when he'd noticed that Tyki and Skin would almost always lob the ball especially hard in his direction. Now he was certain, as they continued playing, and yet another ball whizzed by, not a centimeter from his ear, and Kanda had to make a mad dash to rescue the ball before it bounced a second time. While Kanda started swearing at him again, Allen quickly glanced around; was Komui seeing this?

Evidently not. He was monitoring the court which was farthest away from them, where Lenalee and Road were playing, making sure no one tried to look up Lenalee's scandalously short tennis skirt.

No, Allen had never been taught to never, ever take his eyes off the ball.

The ball hit him squarely in between the eyes, and if it hadn't hurt like hell, he would have laughed at the bizarre sound that seemed to echo in his skull when it made contact with the bridge of his nose. Across the net, Tyki and Skin were roaring with laughter.

"Where were you looking, kid? Jesus!" Tyki managed in between gasps for breath. Tears stung at the corners of Allen's eyes- it didn't hurt too much anymore, but it had surprised him terribly, and when so startled, Allen tended to start crying. He barely managed to choke the tears back; he was _not_ about to start crying in front of Kanda.

To his immense surprise, though, Allen became aware that Kanda was at his side, his glare replaced with a frown- for Kanda, a look like that was rare and unreadable.

"You idiot! What the hell were you thinking, zoning out like that! Why didn't you avoid it, like you were doing before?!"

"I-- wait! You knew they were trying to hit me? Why the hell didn't you say anything?!" Allen whispered as angrily as he could, and Kanda sighed, annoyed.

"They want to get a rise out of us. I wasn't about to give them the satisfaction. Besides, you were avoiding them and not saying anything, like you didn't care."

"Oh…" Allen could kind of understand that line of reasoning. In a way, Kanda was acknowledging that Allen could take care of himself. While Allen was pondering that, he was vaguely aware that Kanda had said something that he hadn't heard.

"Huh? Sorry, could you repeat that?"

Kanda rolled his eyes, apparently exasperated.

"Quit zoning out! I said, let me see the bruise." As he spoke, Kanda tipped up Allen's chin and examined the purple bruise that was already beginning to form, leaning in just slightly to get a better look. Caught off- guard by Kanda's actions, Allen couldn't help but become captivated by Kanda's beautiful face, which was much closer to his own than he had ever expected. Of course he'd already known that Kanda was good- looking, but since Kanda almost always pissed him off, he'd never taken the time to really _look_ at the older boy. But now, at such close range, he realized that Kanda was not just good- looking, not just handsome, but just absolutely fucking drop- dead gorgeous. His eyes, which Allen had previously thought seemed cold and black, were actually an endlessly deep shade of indigo blue, not unlike his hair, and they were the perfect distance apart. His eyebrows were not too thick, nor were they thin, either, not too arched or too flat. His nose was straight and thin, subtly pointed at the tip, the ideal length. His lips were peach- pink in color, and they looked soft as velvet, just plump enough to look luscious, yet thin enough to appear almost modest. The contours of his face were chiseled without looking too rough; Allen's eyes followed the angle of his jaw, the gentle, sloping lines of his cheeks. He was 

contradiction all around. Everything about him seemed to scream power, masking an incredible underlying tension.

Allen's heart began to thump, wild and violent within the confines of his ribcage, crimson slowly coloring his normally pale cheeks at the awareness that he was thinking such things about Kanda, of all people. Sure, he was beautiful, but he was an ass, right? So--

"Does it hurt?" Kanda inquired, another frown creasing his brow. Was that _concern_ in his voice?

_Damn,_ Allen cursed vehemently in his mind. _Damn, damn, damn, damn._

He quickly turned from Kanda to hide his face, which had become red again for no apparent reason.

"I'm fine," he insisted. "Let's keep going. I'll play for real this time, okay? I'll try harder."

Kanda snorted, back to his old self. He gave a shrug, clearly indicating that he really didn't give a damn either way, but then,

"Don't overdo it, Beansprout. Just relax a little. You're way too tense for your own good."

This time, Allen was the one to snort. As if Kanda was one to talk.

It turned out to be good advice, though. Once Allen lightened up a bit, he was able to play a lot better, relatively speaking. He was even able to return a few of the balls that Skinn was still pelting at him as hard as he could.

However, his mind kept going back to the way Kanda had acted; it was almost as if he'd been concerned for Allen's well- being, and Kanda never worried about anyone. Moreover, his eyes kept wandering to look at Kanda's face, his body. The fact that Kanda had removed his shirt due to the heat didn't help, either. During play, Allen found himself distracted by the smooth movement of Kanda's strong, lean muscles under his lightly tanned, flawless skin, and the sweat that was dripping off him seemed to make him glisten in the powerful mid-day sun.

Due to Allen's improved playing, they'd won almost as many games as they'd lost, and if they won this game, they would tie up the score. Then, they would probably have fulfilled Komui's conditions, but Allen had had a taste of victory, and now he wanted the real thing- he wanted to win this match. He hadn't known that he could be so competitive against anyone other than Kanda, but even on the same side as the older boy, something about Kanda made him want to do his very best.

They were in the heat of play when it happened. The game was nearly over; they were at a break point, and the advantage was theirs. If they could just score one more time, they would win. Kanda returned a particularly hard serve from Tyki, but when Tyki hit it back, he did not hit it high and far like he usually did- he hit it low and bruised it over the net, and Allen rushed to rescue the ball, right before it could hit the ground on their side of the court. As he did so, he discovered that Skinn was literally right in front of him, ready to swing his racquet with bone- shattering force. Thus, it happened at the same pace- 

Skinn hit the ball with all his might, and it sped towards Kanda, who pelted it back right over Skinn's shoulder, and Tyki was unable to save it before its second bounce. Momentarily, Kanda felt the thrill of victory in his chest, before he noticed that Allen lay lifeless on the ground, a trickle of blood coming from a cut on the side of his face. Skinn had not stopped his swing after hitting the ball—he had smashed his racquet into the side of Allen's head.

Rage and panic immediately began to fight in Kanda's mind; the panic ultimately winning as he ran to Allen's side. He'd been knocked out cold. Kanda scrutinized the injury, checking to make sure Allen's skull wasn't fractured. To his relief, it wasn't, but the kid would be lucky if he got out of this without a concussion. Wasting no time, Kanda tore off some fabric from Allen's shirt and staunched the flow of any blood that had not yet clotted. Allen gave a groan, then a sudden hiss as he awakened and promptly became aware of the stinging of his wound. Despite Kanda's protests, he sat up, his eyes swimming in and out of focus. He held one hand to his head, gritting his teeth at the combination of dull throbbing and sharp, cutting pain.

"Now _that _hurt." He muttered lamely, slowly coming back to his senses. As he felt someone's warm, supporting hand on his back, he glanced up, and was met with the sight of Kanda's dumbfounded expression, and immediately began to giggle uncontrollably. Kanda's eyes widened- Skinn must have really hit him hard.

"What's so funny?"

"You should see your face, Kanda…ah ha ha…oh, it's priceless…"

Kanda rolled his eyes. He needn't have worried; it was still the same Allen, albeit a little out of it.

"Forget about that. Are you okay, you dumbass?" Allen frowned at the insult, but then he shrugged, a grin spreading on his face as he noticed the gentle tone of Kanda's voice.

"'M'okay." He smiled up at Kanda. "So don't worry about me so much." Allen didn't miss the slight reddening of Kanda's cheeks as he snorted and turned his face from view.

"Who said I was worried? You have such a thick skull, after all, I knew that wouldn't-- hey, don't stand up!"

Allen swayed a little before he regained his balance, rolling his shoulders and picking up his racquet, while Kanda glared at him, mentally willing him to sit back down. He seemed all right, but Allen tended to hide his pain, even if it was severe.

"Hey, kid, don't you think you should stay down?" Tyki called out, not really caring, just bored with the game. However, his sudden speech seemed to remind Kanda of Skinn's actions and his own anger, and he threw a killing glare over at the large man, and his fists clenched as he started towards him. Fortunately, Allen sensed his intent and, on impulse, threw his arms around Kanda's waist from behind to hold him back. Still, Kanda was furious, so since he was restrained, he instead abused Skinn verbally.

"You son of a bitch! You think you can get away with shit like that?!"

"Kanda, stop! I'm fine, really!"

"That's not the point! He really tried to hurt you, you idiot!"

Shocked at Kanda's words, Allen's hold on the older boy slackened, allowing Kanda to break free and jump the net, and he ran at Skinn with his fists brandished. Tyki dropped his racquet, ready to defend Skinn, and Allen's mind raced with panic- two against one, Kanda's chances weren't good—

But then the all- too familiar shriek of Komui's whistle cut through the air, and all three students froze in their tracks.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Komui demanded, but no one seemed willing to speak up. Kanda stared at his shoes, and Tyki and Skinn just stood glaring at Komui. Tension hung in the air until Lenalee jogged up beside her brother, her eyes wide and fixed on Allen. Kanda followed her gaze to the boy- he was swaying again, his hand resting on his forehead.

"Allen, what's wrong?" Lenalee called out to him, and for a moment, he didn't answer, then,

"I don't… feel so good…" he murmured, growing still more unsteady. Then, to their horror, he lost his footing completely and just tipped over. Fortunately for him, Kanda had seen it coming, and before Allen could injure himself further, Kanda had jumped back over the net just in time to catch him. With the faint boy cradled in his arms, Kanda knelt down and laid Allen gently on his back, his head resting in Kanda's lap. However, something was amiss; Allen felt abnormally hot.

"Nnn…" Allen groaned. "Hot… dizzy…"

"Komui! Call an ambulance! I think Beansprout's got heat stroke!" Nodding, Komui (along with a few others) sped off- cell phones were always left inside during gym class, and Komui's was coincidentally broken. Meanwhile, Kanda talked to Allen in an effort to keep him coherent and conscious.

"You idiot! Why did you push yourself so hard? Why didn't you tell me you were hot?!"

Allen's eyes fluttered open, focusing slowly on Kanda. He smiled somewhat sadly before he responded.

"I didn't want to complain. If I did, you would only hate me more. I wanted to show you that I could be strong."

"What…? What are you talking about?"

"I know, it's stupid, but… I wanted you to admire me, if only for just one small thing. I mean, I admire you so much, Kanda. It makes me sad that even though I feel that way, you don't like one single thing about me."

As Allen spoke, Kanda's face softened, and sirens were heard in the distance. Allen opened and closed his eyes slowly, darkness devouring his vision; he was blacking out again.

The last thing he felt before he lost consciousness was a pair of warm lips pressing gently to his forehead, and then Kanda's voice whispering in his ear.

"You're such an idiot…"


End file.
